Sandstone capita increases its exposure to India - invests in Phoenix and PSL

Hedge funds joined in on the bull rally as the country’s bellwether index breaches the 10K mark on strong global cues. Sandstone Capital, an India focused hedge fund with $1 billion capital under management, picked up stakes in Phoenix Mills and PSL Ltd from open market on Thursday. Sandstone has picked up a little more than 2% stake in Atul Ruia-promoted real estate developer Phoenix Mills for Rs 18.3 crore. Sandstone also picked up a 1.53% stake in PSL Ltd for Rs 4.23 crore. PSL Ltd is involved in manufacturing and coating of pipes for transporting hydrocarbon products, water products, and steel structural applications. The company has been promoted by Punj family and claims to be largest manufacturer of high grade large diameter Helical Submerged Arc Welded (HSAW) pipes in India. Present shareholders of Phoenix Mills include Americop Ventures, New Vernon, Deutsche Securities, Kotak Mahindra, among others. Phoenix Mills raised Rs 1,300 crore from German real estate fund MPC Synergy for its various projects in August last year. Trafelet Company was another hedge fund busy in the market, but it was selling its holding in various companies. The hedge fund sold its holdings in various companies like Central Bank of India, TVS Motor Company, Jagaran Prakash, and JK Lakshmi Cement to Morgan Stanley Mauritius. Sandstone has made a few private equity investments in the country. It's last investment was in Hyderabad based SKS Microfinance, for which it was the lead investor in a $75 million round. Its other investments include optical networking product company Tejas Networks and local search firm Guruji.

Foreign PEs picks 24% in Phoenix Mills

Leading private equity funds like Barclays Capital, Citigroup, HSBC Financial and DB Fund Mauritius, along with a host of overseas real estate funds, Alpine Capital and Bluerich Fund, have collectively acquired a 24% stake in Atul Ruia-promoted Phoenix Mills for Rs 1,300 crore.

The funds have picked up equity through a mix of preferential allotment and qualified institutional placement (QIP). Six funds including Barclays Capital, Citigroup, HSBC Financial, DB Fund Mauritius, Rhodes Diversified, DWS Invest Bric Plus and Americorp Ventures acquired 7% stake in Phoenix Mills for Rs 330 crore through preferential allotment while the real estate funds and other private equity funds picked up 18% for Rs 980 crore.

Riding on the success of ‘High Street Phoenix’ in Mumbai, the company has floated a new retail model — Market Cities.
Market Cities are already present in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai while five more are coming up.

Currently, Phoenix Mills holds 75% stake in Atlas Hospitality while the remaining is with the promoters. Market City is a city-centric concept developed by Phoenix. These are large-sized mixed format retail developments of approximately 2 million sq ft.

Phoenix intends to set up about 10 Market Cities across metros and relatively smaller retail format developments of about 1 million sq ft in tier II cities across India.

(Source: Economic Times )

Trinity to pick up 1.66pc stake in Phoenix Mills

UK-based investment firm Trinity Capital Plc on Friday said it will pick up about 1.66 per cent stake in Phoenix Mills for Rs 59.2 crore. Trinity would acquire 3.7 lakh shares for an aggregate of Rs 59.2 crore at a price of Rs 1,600 per share, the company said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The price to be paid by Trinity would be at a discount against the market price of Rs 1,900.

Deutsche Bank and Americorp would also be investing in Phoenix Mills alongside Trinity, the statement said. The investment would help Trinity to participate in the growth of Phoenix Mills and invest in future projects and entity level financings, it said.

Phoenix Mills is currently involved in seven retail-led developments covering 15 million square feet and is a mall operator, who would be involved in the development and management of Trinity's own retail projects.

The seven market cities, which Phoenix Mills plans to develop are Mumbai, Chennai, Thane, Pune, Raipur and Bangalore.

(Source: Economic Times)